With the evolution of the personal computer to near Main Frame power, Personal CAD/CAM workstations have become de rigueur in almost every industry. One of the last industries to be effected is the music and audio-for-video production business.
The past decade has seen huge strides in both computing power and cost effectiveness of audio workstations. At the same time, traditional business models for entities involved in the creation of music and sound for profit have been almost completely replaced. The new model for music production might involve a capital equipment outlay of under $30,000.00. In 1980 that figure would have been at least $1 Million.
Along with the change in business model has come a change in the audio monitoring set-ups that are used by the creative professional to judge the quality and consistency of the audio recordings that are in the process of being turned into finished works:
In the pre-workstation days of audio production, monitor loudspeakers could be expected to be around 6 to 12 feet away from the persons responsible for audio quality. These persons were generally seated behind an array of audio control systems referred to as a “mixing desk” or “console”. The mixing desk was used as a sort of routing and processing system to enable the creation of a polished, finished audio recording. The creative people seated at the desk were the Producer (who calls the creative shots) and the Engineer who operates the entire system and tries to satisfy the Producer's creative needs.
The monitor loudspeakers for this sort of set up were (and are) generally mounted high on the wall beyond the mix console, and are usually tilted down and toed in to the best listening angle. Monitors so arrayed are often considered as “near field”, though the listeners are actually well into the reverberant field of the room.
In creating the “Virtual Mixing Desk” inherent in any computerized music production system, audio monitoring has thus far received very little attention. First of all, financial constraints have tended to eliminate the Engineer. These days the producer has both the operational and creative roles. Second, top quality audio component design engineers do not think of a computer monitor as being the central piece of an audio editing system. However, in the case of an audio workstation, the producer/engineer is absolutely tethered to one to three computer monitors flanked by small high quality loudspeakers.
All of these items are generally placed on a single ordinary business desk, with the monitor speakers sometimes place on a shelf at the rear of the desk.